yep

We made it through the weekend. It was fun, noisy, stressful, intense--special and weird and wonderful. I fried shrimp and we played cards, and it was hot and it stormed.

Now we're home again.

Here are a few pictures. These are pics of the soccer game. They don't include the swearing that occurred. Though there was no actual fighting, there were accusations of cheating.

this team
vs. this team

here he's trying to convince me to play goalie. that's not ever gonna happen.

okay, that's a fierce goalie.

Here's John helping Tim build his latest construction kit from my parents.

and the kids painting it before bed--

A little tubing


john and julia, then john and t.c.


a little swimming
After the little kids were done swimming, sitting in the pontoon, warming up in the sun, Dad, James, and Little Jay goofed around in the water, picking up rocks from the bottom and skipping them across the surface.

Everything was good, and then Big Jay yelped and hollered.

A SUNFISH BIT HIM IN THE BOOB.

!!!

Right on the right nipple. The darn thing drew blood!

Who knew this was even possible???

See what I mean about weird?

If you want to see the photo, send a message, but I'll spare the rest of us.

Okay and these pictures were taken on the world's loudest boat ride.

see that guy calmly sitting there? this was after being bit ON THE NIPPLE by a fish. good lor-ed.

aww, these guys ain't never made no noiseThat guy in the front there was cranky at one point this afternoon, storming around, fussing at his parents. He wanted the full sized adult water skis to play with. (no, no, no.) He wanted to get on and off the boat, blah, blah, blah.

I went over there and called him to my lap, said I wanted to hold him, wrapped him up with a towel. I cuddled him close and nuzzled my nose in his damp hair, and he relaxed against me for a minute. Then he said, "Val? How come you love me so much?" (Val instead of Grandma? It's okay.)

I said, "How could I not love YOU?" He accepted that as a reasonable answer.

And speaking of people I love, this girl was there for the weekend also.

Heidi and Joe came and brought their puppy and plenty of their good cooking to share. Joe fried fish this morning, absolutely splendid, and Heidi brought a new pasta salad to try out on us. (Fantastic.) Anyway, Heidi is patient and good and helpful, and Joe's low maintainance, God bless him. He also can check storm warnings on his phone, which was very, very helpful.

When they left tonight, she came to hug me good bye, and wrapped her long tanned arms around my head, held me for a long minute against her smooth brown neck and shoulder, her goldy curls covering my eyes.

I could hear her heartbeat.

I know it sounds lame, but the years we spent with tiny her tucked against MY neck flashed before me, and I was glad for all the many years we had living together. She has her own family now, her own home, she and Joe and their dog, Morgan. It's life unfolding just right, and yet the sound of her heart softly beating in my ear...

The first time I knew for sure that Joe loved her was when I saw him sniffing the curls at her nape. Okay, that's MY spot for sniffing. That's when I knew he was for real.

All right. Enough of that. Onward. Tomorrow is Monday. And it was all very, very LOUD this weekend, but now it's very, very quiet. Life is nuthin' but good. love, Val